This article is from page 34 of the 2007-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 34 JPG
LAHINCH’S reputation as Clare’s Mecca for new and original music continues to grow with the news of a band who are taking an original slant at performing and making music.
The Navigators are a local four- piece who have taken up residence in Flanaghan’s Bar in Lahinch on Wednesday evenings. The band fea- tures a mountain of musical talent in- cluding famed uilleann piper, Davy Spillane, who plays electric guitar, Ogi Doyle on drums, Mark Farrelly on keys and synth and Blendi Kras- niqi on precession.
They play a mixture of jazz, blues and funk with the inclusion of a few contemporary electronic sounds.
The original thing about them, how- ever, 1s that they do not write songs; instead, they improvise their music each night.
“We are friends and neighbours who live here. We’re not here just for the summer, we are here for a long time. We’re almost like a social club. We love playing the kind of music that we play. We’re not doing it to impress people, we are doing it to impress ourselves. It’s unrehearsed but it’s deliberately unrehearsed,” said Davy Spillane.
“There is a real thrill 1n it. There 1s a great journey to go into a night of three hours of music when you don’t know what you are going to do. There is a real fear, it’s fantastic. Really challenging. The crowd are looking
at us and we are looking back, not re- ally knowing what to do.”
While the music is unscripted, a great deal of work goes into mak- ing the three-hour gigs happen each week. Every performance is record- ed, listened to and discussed by the band who strive to make each night better than the previous one.
This process of making music al- lows the audience the chance to wit- ness, and even effect, original music as it is being made.
“We try to avoid learning music but instead navigate ourselves through the music. That’s why we are the navigators,” said Mark Farrelly.
“We have a theme as a band. We have bits and pieces of music that we like and they develop naturally, but
we don’t rehearse. We are trying to get away from the structured, framed music.
“We respond to the crowd. When the crowd start cheering and are into it, we do tend to push it farther. As the people start getting into it and the energy rises, the music starts to get aul elome
The Navigators play in Flanaghan’s Bar in Lahinch each Wednesday aneeaal